Various types of paperboard boxes, tubes and containers have been devised to protect elongated articles during shipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,255, issued to Welshenbach, describes a container having a knock-down body made from a one-piece blank of material such as paperboard. The container has end walls stiffened by flaps projecting into the container and serving as partitions to separate the contents of the container. U.S. Pat. No. 1,623,547, issued to Neumann, discloses an elongated, trapezoidal box for shipping and display of golf clubs, formed from a single blank of paperboard material.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,253,008, issued to Anderson, describes a display box for golf clubs that may also be used for shipping. The box includes slotted divider panels to prevent the clubs from contacting one another during shipping. Another U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,740, issued to Anderson, illustrates another golf club box having a slotted cross bar construction disposed between the spaced apart sides of the box designed to receive the shanks of golf clubs and keep them from damaging each other in shipping. A separate cover is provided for the box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,983, issued to Lelek is directed to a shipping and storage container with an integral divider insert-forming portion. The portion is formed of an innermost insert panel, a center, hold down panel and an outermost insert panel. When the insert-forming portion is folded inwardly toward bottom wall-forming panel, it serves to separate container into separate upper and lower spaces that are accessible throughout their entire length from the top of the container, from time to time, during positioning of the divider panels within the open container.
An effective design for a shipping container for such items must necessarily be a compromise of various factors. It is an objective of the present invention that the container provide the required degree of protection from the forces encountered in transferring the container from one destination to another by means of automated package handling systems, trucks, automobiles and aircraft. In particular, the container should provide protection from bending moments applied to the length of the container. It is another objective of the invention that dividers be provided to segregate the contents of the container to prevent damage to individual items stored within the container. It is a further objective that the container be light in weight to prevent excessive shipping costs. It is yet a further objective of the invention that the container is economical to produce and simple to assemble. It is a still further objective that the container provide a simple and effective means of being sealed and later opened.
While features disclosed in the prior art satisfy some of the objectives of the present invention, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.